Drinking Horn – Thor, Warder of Travelers

Thor – Warder of Travelers by Sam Flegal. Ink on paper.

I got to be involved in a very cool project with my friend Brian Marshall, who makes his living selling viking drinking horns. That’s right, you read that correctly, DRINKING HORNS!!! His business is called Where the Gods Live and you should totally take a moment to look through his work and like his page on Facebook.

Cool stuff, right? O.K. now that you’re back, I want to talk about a project Brian and I did together. Brian approached me about designing a horn that he would carve. He wanted to do something with Thor, and shot a few different ideas my way. The one that really appealed to me was the concept of Thor as the protector of travelers, specifically travel by sea.

I let this concept work its way around in my mind and came up with the idea of combining Thor holding his hammer with a viking longship. Eventually I came up with the drawing above. I sent it over to Brian and he loved it and said he’d get to work.

Apparently it spoke to him on a deeper level, because the inspiration flowed mightily. I kept getting texts and calls at weird hours of the night (artists keep odd schedules), with Brian asking if he could alter or add to the design. Over several weeks it became clear that he was obsessed. Finally after weeks of anticipation he tells me, “It’s done, do you want to see it?” Of COURSE I WANT TO SEE IT!!!

I present you with Brian’s Horn – The Thunder God:

It looks even cooler with internal lights!

If you, too, want your very own Drinking Horn, carved or otherwise, make sure to stop by and see Brian in the dealer’s room at Dragon Con! If you do, tell him Sam Flegal sent ya!

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To see more of my work or to contact me for availability to help with your project please visit: www.samflegal.com